Councilwoman Phyllis Holly-Ward said the fact the panel wasn’t made aware of the deal was “unacceptable.”

“We can’t afford any lack of transparency in these times,” she said. “It only further creates a cloud of suspicion that is already there. We communicate in the background all the time. What emergency is $1.3 million? You’re not talking about $1,300.”

City officials felt pressure to get the deal done following myriad issues with the troubled water department throughout Mayor Eric Jackson’s term in office.

The city pushed the deal through quickly after former state Department of Environmental Protection chief Bob Martin’s latest missive to Mayor Jackson, denouncing the city for failing to get the deal with Wade Trim done by an original Nov. 30 deadline.

“The city is well past that date without a contract in place,” Martin wrote in a letter sent to Jackson earlier this month.

DEP acknowledged it received a preliminary draft contract between TWW and the civil engineering firm Wade Trim that was “unacceptably incomplete and does not meet even the minimum requirements to keep TWW operational.”

Last week, DEP cited TWW for two more violations: failing to properly chlorinate the water “due to rising turbidities” and for not complying with testing under the Lead and Copper Rule, which states that if more than 10 percent of samples have levels of 15 parts per billion the water agency must take steps to warn customers and take corrective action.

They marked the 17th and 18th water violations since Jackson assumed office in 2014, with 12 of them coming in 2017 — its worst year on record.

When asked about Wade Trim’s level of involvement in helping stabilize Trenton Water Works, Cherry shied away from calling it a takeover or saying the outside company is running the show.

But he acknowledged Wade Trim is “providing staff with qualifications” to help the city navigate the politically charged water crisis.

Four Wade Trim employees are spending most of their time at Trenton’s water filtration plant, Cherry said. The four workers include a chief pump operator, senior pump operator and two assistant operators.

The company will help address issues with “operation, distribution, maintenance and identification,” Chery said, and will help the water department implement “some operational enhancements.”

City officials and the DEP have traded barbs over the hang-up in getting the outside engineering firm in place, with the mayor claiming the agency made unreasonable demands that would have forced the city to break the law in order to comply.

Cherry painted the city’s relationship with DEP as one in which it must run everything it does by the agency. That was the city’s excuse for being slow to issue a Jan. 15 boil-water advisory that marked an escalation of the conflict.

Wade Trim doesn’t appear to have any connections to Christie. On its website, it boasts about its “expertise to provide infrastructure solutions” from more than 450 staff members at 20 offices.

Wade Trim is “ranked in the top 500 design firms, top 200 environmental firms and continues to be nationally recognized for innovative solutions,” according to its website.

The problems at TWW appear entrenched.

Despite DEP’s letters and notices of violations outlining the problems with TWW, City Council still formally asked DEP to investigate.

A DEP spokesman previously said the agency had essentially done that.

Still, DEP met once again with Mayor Jackson last week to address the ongoing issues.

Cherry stressed the city’s water quality was “never below grade” and called the boil-water advisory a “precautionary event.”

He didn’t agree with characterizations that TWW has lacked leadership.

“I remember what Bob Martin said in the letter,” Cherry said. “I don’t agree with the ‘lacked leadership.’ We’ve admitted and we recognized prior to the commissioner making that statement that we have staffing issues that we would be addressing. Things are being done and they will be done.”

Cherry mentioned an unspecified second company that will work with the city to address TWW’s problems.

City spokesman Michael Walker did not immediately respond to a request for additional information about the second company, its role and whether the $1.3 million allocation covers that company’s fees or if they are separate from Wade Trim’s.

Thursday’s agenda includes a resolution for a $25,564 payment of an emergency contract with USA Environmental Management “for the closure and removal of two relict underground storage tanks at the former Bell Boy Cleaners site” on Prospect Street.

A company representative said the work is part of an unrelated brownfield project. The rep said the company was hired to remove storage tanks that may have contained gasoline or diesel fuel at the site, which he said was formerly a gas station.

“I want to make it clear it has nothing to do with Trenton Water Works,” said the official, who wouldn’t give his name.

He referred further questions to the city’s brownfield coordinator, J.R. Capasso, who confirmed what the company rep said.

The Cold War-like threats over TWW – DEP had said it was “locked and loaded” to sue Trenton – appear to have subsided with Wade Trim onboard but not without fallout.

Cherry was asked to address the city’s relationship with former DEP commish Martin.

Walker interjected that the city looks forward to working with new DEP chief Catherine McCabe.

“I think it’s fair to say that it’s too soon [to know] what our relationship will be like with the new commissioner,” the city spokesman said. “We are hopeful we will have a productive relationship as we did with the outgoing relationship.”

About the Authors

Avilucea has covered courts, crime and coaching kerfuffles in New Mexico, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey. He prides himself on covering First Amendment issues and was honored for helping fight against a Connecticut judge's prior restraint injunction while he worked at the Connecticut Law Tribune. Reach the author at iavilucea@trentonian.com
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